Beast Boy and Raven stood about fifteen feet from each other, a gentle breeze ruffling their hair. The bloody front of Beast Boy's uniform and lower jaw had begun to grow tacky, and his bandage was loosening with the continued morphing and activity. Raven continued to clean her face and horns with her tongue, causing Beast Boy to think incongruously of a gecko. He raked his clawed fingers across his scalp roughly, shaking loose small bits of viscera and finally dislodging his bandage.
"Raven, what the hell's going on?"
She cocked her head to the side in a manner not dissimilar to a curious puppy. "That's a very simple question with a very complex answer."
"Could you maybe, oh I don't know, summarize?"
Raven snorted in amusement. "I'll do what I can, but we don't have much time.
"Being half-demon, I either needed to accept my demonic half or die by my 16th birthday. The battle with Trigon postponed this for some time since I ended up regressing in age due to my level of power usage. Jon was sent to this dimension by three goddesses to guide my transformation and avert an apocalypse they had foreseen. Prior to that, he had become… merged, for lack of a better term, with a demon from yet another dimension. Zarach, the demon that is merged with Jon, recently managed to regain control of his body and attacked me. I fled into Nevermore to escape him and eventually found my way to Jon's mindscape. While there I learned to control my new form, and upon my return found that Zarach had started to finalize the prophecied end times. Due to the threat posed by Zarach and an oath that I had sworn, I hunted him to this location and engaged him in battle, leaving the rest of you to deal with the zombies."
Beast Boy blinked, processing the information. He pointed a thumb behind himself to indicate the unconscious body behind him and said, "So, is he a good guy or a bad guy?"
"...Can't you ask any questions with simple answers?"
A sudden blur in Raven's periphery drew her attention a split-second too late. Zarach, having feigned unconsciousness for the past few minutes had lashed out with his foot and tripped Beast Boy. Gathering himself quickly into a crouch, he leaped towards the downed metamorph with wings spread and teeth bared. Before he could finish his pounce upon the dazed changeling, a red and green blur knocked him off his flight path. The blur resolved itself into Robin, standing protectively over Beast Boy as he regained his senses and his footing.
"Hi Raven. Dig the new look."
Raven, however, was currently uninterested in witty banter. Her own wings had spread in response to Zarach's unexpected attack, and her tail lashed fitfully above her head. As Zarach skid to a halt, he snarled a challenge and launched a ball of hellfire at the Titan leader. Robin responded by quickly tossing two freeze discs. The first intercepted the hellfire and neutralized it, while the second continued towards Zarach, blocked inches from his face by a smear of inky energy.
"He's mine," Raven hissed as she dropped to all fours and used her wings to add a burst of speed to her charge. Her tail led the assault, a whip-crack aimed at Zarach's eyes that forced a flinch. She plowed into him then, a petite bundle of demonic anger and righteous fury.
The two demonically charged adversaries tumbled in a vicious grapple, Zarach using strength and clawed hands while Raven used her lithe form to slip from holds and her needle teeth and horns to keep him cautious.
Robin placed a hand on Beast Boy's shoulder and spoke quickly into his remaining ear. Nodding, Beast Boy disappeared from view as he took the form of an emerald gnat.
Meanwhile, Zarach and Raven continued their tussle. Raven, hampered by her desire to keep Jon from permanent harm, was slowly being overcome. While Zarach had been weakened from the modified Hiryu Shoten Ha that Raven had tricked him into, he was by no means defeated. While he was under no compunction to keep Raven alive, he did prefer for her to be living when he took her. The breaking of her spirit was more desirable to Zarach than the actual sexual conquest, but if push came to shove he would destroy her and desecrate the body.
Suddenly, Zarach and Raven were shoved apart by a swiftly growing wall of green flesh. Beast Boy had interposed his gnat form between the two combatants, and then transformed into the form of a blue whale for an instant before returning to his human likeness. He glared heatedly at Zarach before growing into his were-beast form, lupine ears flat against his skull and opaque eyes glowing slightly with a pale yellow light. With a primal roar, he charged the tattooed man and successfully landed a surprise punch against his jaw, launching him over the edge of the roof. Unhesitatingly, Beast Boy followed.
As Raven flipped to her feet, Robin jumped in front of her. "Raven, we need to talk!" he stated in a rush.
Crimson eyes narrowed at the mortal between her and her prey. "Speak quickly," she snarled in duo-tone.
Robin quickly removed the amethyst amulet from around his neck and passed it to her. "Jon made amulets for all of us. He told me to help you, and to deliver this to you. I don't know what it does, his letter didn't say. But the rest of our amulets seem to augment our abilities, or provide useful enhancements."
She briefly looked at the amulet, studying it on a metaphysical plane that was invisible to most mortal eyes. With a nod, she snapped the leather from the stone, discarding it. She then placed it over her chakra and winced slightly as they merged into a single stone then split, forming two narrow strips of stone in the vague form of a V upon her forehead. "Jon told you to help me?" she asked for confirmation. Robin nodded.
"We do not kill him. That is non-negotiable," she stated to her leader. Robin opened his mouth, but Raven spoke over his arguments with cold intent. "I will kill you myself before allowing you the chance."
Beast Boy's voice in their heads interrupted the tableau. "Guys, I've distracted him as long as I can. I need backup, now."
As the two Titans on the rooftop sprinted towards the edge, Robin asked a simple question. "Why?"
Raven spread her wings and lifted gracefully into the air. "Because I love him," she replied.